Report Staff Behaviour

The Student Complaint Procedure is used when students wish to raise concerns relating to the behaviour of a member of University staff.  This simple flowchart outlines the stages of the complaint journey with more detailed information below.  

When you make a complaint using the Reporting Misconduct Form, a member of staff from OSCCA will offer to meet with you. Once you are happy with the process, your form will be shared by OSCCA with the appropriate Human Resources (HR) team. The HR team will take the matter forward under the relevant staff disciplinary procedure. There are two types of procedure, depending on the employment status of the staff member. You will be informed which one will be used.    

In most cases, the member of staff (respondent) will no longer have any welfare or academic responsibility for you once you have made your complaint. If you are complaining about a supervisor, the Department will look for an alternative, including considering an external supervisor where necessary. Where specific funding is involved, the circumstances will be discussed with you.    

What can you expect?    

Where an investigation is taken forward:    

• you will be asked to attend a meeting with an investigator  

• the investigator will ask you to share your full account of what happened   

• you can provide any extra evidence and witness information if needed.   

• it will not require you to be in the same room as the staff member and it is very unlikely that you will need to attend a hearing 

You can seek support at all stages of the process, including before and after, and OSCCA does not use 'Non-disclosure agreements' for any cases relating to students or staff. However, while an investigation is ongoing, we ask everyone involved to not discuss the matter with others, except from those who are providing you with support. This requirement enables the investigator to gather accounts from individuals about what they remember about an event, rather than what they've told others or what others have told them.  

 The investigator will produce an investigation report. The Complaint Officer, who is usually the Department or Faculty Responsible Person, will use that report to decide the outcome of the complaint. They can:    

• refer the case to an informal resolution stage   

• uphold the complaint and consider appropriate remedies for you   

• or dismiss the complaint in whole or in part   

What information will you receive?    

Often an investigation can take between three and six months and you will be updated throughout the process, the time taken varies depending on the case specifics.  

Where possible you will receive the investigation report and the reasoned decision about your complaint. This will include any outcomes or remedies that affect you.  The Student Complaint Procedure can have outcomes that prohibit any form of contact with you.   

You may seek a review of the Complaint Officer’s decision. This should be submitted within ten working days of receiving the decision.   

Where a finding has also been made under the staff disciplinary procedure, you will be informed and notified of any sanctions which directly affect you. There may be some personal information that cannot be shared. If this is the case, you will be told why. Witnesses may receive some relevant information about the outcome if they have been personally affected.

A full copy of the Student Complaint Procedure can be found at Student Complaints | Student Complaints. 

You can use the Student Complaint Procedure to report any suspected breaches of the University’s staff and students relationship policy, or if you consider that you have been adversely affected by a misuse of power, authority, or conflict of interest.    

If you do not want to make a complaint but want to ensure that a staff member is acting in accordance with the policy, then you can speak to their Head of Institution, Senior Tutor or any other trusted senior member of your College or Department.  This is encouraged and there will not be any disciplinary consequences for you taking this action.   

You can report inappropriate behaviour anonymously here. The University cannot take direct action as a result of anonymous reporting but will collate information you have provided and use it to help monitor the prevalence of incidents and understand the impact of initiatives run by the collegiate University and Students’ Union. 

If you believe that a criminal offence may have been been committed then you can report the matter to the police. If the incident has taken place in Cambridge then you can find out more information from the Cambridge Constabulary, for example their pages at  Stalking and harassment | Cambridgeshire Constabulary and Rape, sexual assault and other sexual offences | Cambridgeshire Constabulary.  

If you report a matter to the police, you can still report a matter to the University or College. If a criminal investigation is taking place, the University process will usually be paused. It would, however, be possible for the University to limit interaction between you and the reported person in this scenario.  Unless the University considers there to be an immediate and significant threat to you or other members of the community, it will never inform the police about a matter you have reported without your consent.

The procedure for complaining about a College employee or fellow to a College is likely to be published on the relevant College website. You can seek advice from your Tutor or Senior Tutor, or from the Tutorial Office about how to make a complaint, or where the Senior Tutor is involved, the Master of the College. 

With your consent, the University and College(s) may work together to decide how best to investigate a matter. For advice about the procedure to use, speak to your Tutor, the Harassment and Violence Support Service (HVSS) or OSCCA at studentcomplaints@admin.cam.ac.uk.